The Secret of Shadow Ranch
The Secret of Shadow Ranch is the 10th installment of the Nancy Drew PC series. In this game you play as Nancy, a detective from River Heights who visits her friends' aunt and uncle in Arizona. She later discovers the Ranch's history and embarks on an adventure to find the lost treasure of Dirk Valentine. Prologue "Dear Hannah, Well, I made it to Shadow Ranch, but I'm afraid all is not well. The Rawleys, the people who own the ranch, have been called away on some kind of emergency. They had Dave Gregory (he's their foreman) pick me up at the airport. He gave me a phone number, told me to call the Rawleys at that number as soon as I got settled in, and refused to tell me anything else. In fact, he barely said two words to me the whole ride to the ranch! What's worse, Bess and George aren't here yet, which is very strange, because even though we had to take different flights, we figured we'd get into Phoenix at the same time. Being here without them feels odd; after all, the Rawleys are their aunt and uncle, not mine. I wouldn't even be here if Bess and George hadn't begged them to invite me out to the ranch for two weeks, too. Until about three months ago, the Rawleys owned a clothing store. Bess said it was always their dream to sell the store and buy a cattle ranch. I hope they're okay, but frankly, as beautiful as Shadow Ranch is, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place. Love, Nancy" The Plot Nancy Drew visits Shadow Ranch, an old ranch with quite an interesting history. Nancy is there on account of her friend's Bess and George, who are both related to Bet and Ed Rawley, the owners of the ranch. A day before Nancy and her friends' arrival, a glowing horse galloped past them, causing Ed Rawley to get bit by a rattlesnake. After showing up at the ranch, Bess and George's flight was cancelled, leaving them trapped in an airport. Bet and Ed were left at the hospital, causing Nancy to be left at the ranch with the three workers. Shorty the cook, Tex the head wrangler, and Dave the one left in charge. Nancy later learns about the story of Dirk Valentine, an outlaw who falls in love with Frances Humber, the daughter of the sherrif. Dirk was eventually caught and hanged, leaving Frances heartbroken. She never forgave her father and fled to Ohio for the rest of her life. Before Dirk's death, he hid a treasure for his beloved, but she never found it. Nancy embarks on a hunt across Arizona to find the treasure and figure out why all of the strange things have happened at the ranch. Epilogue "Dear Hannah, It turns out that Shorty had ridden to the cliff dwellings on the 'phantom horse', which was really just a trick horse that a friend of one of his bank robber buddies had trained. Since my horse was gone, and it was getting dark, I wound up riding it back to the ranch so I could call the sheriff. You should've seen the look on everyone's face when I rode up on a glowing horse! It looks like the phosphoresent powder that they used to make it glow was harmless, but Tex is taking care of the horse until he's sure it's okay. Mary Yazzie has straightened everything out with the Rawleys, and now she comes over a lot, mostly to see Tex. He turns beet red whenever she's around. It's actually kind of cute. Speaking of cute, Dave confessed from the Rawleys as soon as they got home from the hospital, just like he said they would. They not only forgave him, they even offered to split the treasure with him if it turns out they can keep it. Sheriff Hermandez is looking into it. The best part is Bess and George finally got here and we've been having a ball. Here's a picture of the three of us on our horses. Unfortunately Dave took it. Guess he didn't realize his finger was on the lens. See you in a couple of days! Love, Nancy." The Characters Main Characters *Nancy Drew: The main protagonist and player of the game. *Shorty: The chef of the ranch. *Dave: The handsome, shy foreman of the ranch. *Tex: A typical cowboy with a cynical attitude. *Mary Yazzie: A gift shop salesperson and Tex's girlfriend. Minor Characters *Bet and Ed Rawley (Phone Only): The owners of the ranch. *Bess (Phone Only): Friend of Nancy and cousin of George. *George (Phone Only): Friend of Nancy and cousin of Bess. *Charleena Purcell (Phone Only): An award winning romance novelist. *Sheriff Hernandez (Phone Only): A friendly sheriff who commonly visits the Ranch. *Jane Nash (Never Spoken to): Tex's emotionally distraught sister. Characters from the 18/1900's *Frances Humber: Dirk Valentine's sweetheart. *Dirk Valentine: A caring, outlaw who was in love with Frances. *Meryl Humber: The sheriff and the father of Frances. *Cashmeer Valentine: Father of Dirk. *Eldridge Humber: Grandfather of Frances. *Abigail Humber: Grandmother of Frances. *Ellie Humber: Cousin of Frances, Great aunt of Dave . *Cappy Munger: Owner of a saloon in Dry Creek. Trivia * An infamous Koko Kringle bar falls out when Nancy puts her saddle back after her first time riding. *At the end of Dirk's first letter to Frances you can find the letters 9 12 15 22 5 25 15 and 21. If you replace each number with the letter of the alphabet with which it corresponds, it spells "I love you." *The handprint on the refrigerator is from Secret of the Scarlet Hand. *In places where you don't have cell phone service, open the phone, click the "web" button, then click on the directory button. You'll be able to make a call. 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